Course Identification

The course will bridge between aspects of research in science education and the biology teachers' classroom practice. The courses will focuses on

1. Teacher Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK),
2. Constructing and using core ideas and cross-cutting concepts to improve teaching and learning,
3. Scientific inquiry and practices : Definitions and the inquiry cycle,
4. Students'' misconceptions and perceptions of students' alternative concepts,
5. Exploring models in the biology classroom
6. Assessment in biological teaching.
7. The students group will function as a supportive community of colleagues, by means of collaborative thinking and several stages of feedback at the meetings. Continuous assessment will be applied.
    
8. Assessment of the course will combine submission of assignments during the semester, a full action research report at the end of the semester (50%), and on-going participation tasks in the course web site (40%).

Upon successful completion of this course students should be able to:

1. Bridge between aspects of research in science education and the biology teachers' classroom practice

PCK

Park, S., & Chen, Y. C. (2012). Mapping out the integration of the components of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK): Examples from high school biology classrooms. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 49(7), 922-941.‏

Core ideas and crosscutting concepts

‏ Mitchell, I., Keast, S., Panizzon, D., & Mitchell, J. (2017). Using ‘big ideas’ to enhance teaching and student learning. Teachers and Teaching, 23(5), 596-610

Mitchell, I., & Keast, S. (2014). Constructing and using big ideas to improve teaching and learning. Unpublished manuscript, Monash University, Melbourne.

Scientific inquiry and practices

Brownell, S. E., Wenderoth, M. P., Theobald, R., Okoroafor, N., Koval, M., Freeman, S., ... & Crowe, A. J. (2013). How students think about experimental design: novel conceptions revealed by in-class activities. BioScience, 64(2), 125-137.

Barrow, L. H. (2006). A brief history of inquiry: From Dewey to standards. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 17(3), 265-278.

Osborne, J. (2014). Teaching scientific practices: Meeting the challenge of change. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 25(2), 177-196.‏

Pedaste, M., Mäeots, M., Siiman, L. A., De Jong, T., Van Riesen, S. A., Kamp, E. T., ... & Tsourlidaki, E. (2015). Phases of inquiry-based learning: Definitions and the inquiry cycle. Educational research review, 14, 47-61.‏

Sadeh, I., & Zion, M. (2012). Which type of inquiry project do high school biology students prefer: Open or guided?. Research in Science Education, 42(5), 831-848.

?im?ek, P., & Kabap?nar, F. (2010). The effects of inquiry-based learning on elementary students’ conceptual understanding of matter, scientific process skills and science attitudes. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2(2), 1190-1194.

Models

Bryce, C. M., Baliga, V. B., De Nesnera, K. L., Fiack, D., Goetz, K., Tarjan, L. M., ... & Ash, D. (2016). Exploring models in the biology classroom. The American Biology Teacher, 78(1), 35-42.‏

Barrett, G. W., Peles, J. D., & Odum, E. P. (1997). Transcending processes and the levels-of-organization concept. BioScience, 47(8), 531-535.

Breslyn, W., & McGinnis, J. R. (2012). A comparison of exemplary biology, chemistry, earth science, and physics teachers' conceptions and enactment of inquiry. Science Education, 96(1), 48-77.‏

Coley, J. D., & Tanner, K. (2015). Relations between intuitive biological thinking and biological misconceptions in biology majors and nonmajors. CBE-Life Sciences Education, 14(1), ar8.

Cooper, M. M., Caballero, M. D., Ebert-May, D., Fata-Hartley, C. L., Jardeleza, S. E., Krajcik, J. S., ... & Underwood, S. M. (2015). Challenge faculty to transform STEM learning. Science, 350(6258), 281-282.‏

Magnusson, S., Krajcik, J., & Borko, H. (1999). Nature, sources, and development of pedagogical content knowledge for science teaching. In Examining pedagogical content knowledge (pp. 95-132). Springer Netherlands.‏

Osborne, J. (2014). Teaching scientific practices: Meeting the challenge of change. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 25(2), 177-196.‏

Park, S., & Chen, Y. C. (2012). Mapping out the integration of the components of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK): Examples from high school biology classrooms. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 49(7), 922-941.‏

Rowland, G. (2007). Towards a new biology curriculum. Journal of Biological Education, 40(3), 99-101. ‏